1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic transactions. Specifically, and not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to system and method of broadcasting a charge tone or video stream during an electronic transaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Millions of credit card transactions occur every day. Purchases by credit cards account for billions of dollars. There is no question that credit card purchases are an important tool for enacting transactions globally. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an existing credit card transaction scenario. A purchaser 10 buys an item from a merchant 12 using a credit card. The purchaser typically swipes a credit card through a point of sale (POS) unit 14, which collects relevant credit card information for the purchase. The merchant, through the POS unit 14, then requests authorization for the credit card transaction by communicating with an authorization center 16 via a communications link 18. In most cases, the link 18 is a direct electronic link to the authorization center. The authorization center then verifies that the purchaser's credit card account is a valid account and has available credit by querying an issuing financial institution/card issuer 20 via a communications link 22. The issuing financial institution/card issuer keeps and processes all transactions of the purchaser's credit card account. The issuing financial institution/card issuer then responds to the query by either authorizing or rejecting the requested credit card transaction. The authorization center then relays the authorization or rejection message to the merchant through the POS unit 14. The merchant, upon receiving proper authorization from the authorization center, delivers the item to the purchaser.
The entire transaction process typically takes place within a span of time varying from ten to thirty seconds. During this span of time, the purchase must simply wait for the transaction to be completed. However, currently there is no aural or visual display which diverts the attention, entertains or informs the purchaser during this “dead” time. A system and method are needed providing an aural and/or visual presentation to the purchaser.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a system and method of broadcasting a tone or video stream during an electronic transaction, such as a credit card transaction. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a system and method.